History is a powerful force, especially for the victors. This week we had the opportunity to visit the Institute for the Research of Crime Against Humanity, the BiH War Court, and the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia) Outreach Center. We learned extensively about the history of Yugoslavia, ...

Fear can be controlling, paralyzing. It holds power and the ability to make us act in ways that surprise us. Some of us hide, some of us fight. This type of fear isn’t the fear of a giant spider like the many scattering our tall ceilings and eat me while ...

This past weekend I took a little detour out of Bosnia and Eastern Europe to go to Belgium. At that point, I have been exclusively in the East since June 10th and thought it would be fun to visit a friend in Western Europe. The culture shock was almost immediate ...

“Francis, what are you doing with your life?” Here’s the gist of it. I’m spending my summer interning in Sarajevo with a non-profit called Fondacija Krila Nade (translated to Wings of Hope). The organization began in 1995 to help children whose education access had been affected by the war. Additionally, ...

Perhaps my expectations of accomplishment were somewhat misguided by my systematic approach to work; here’s what needs to be done and here’s the sequential steps to completing the task. I am used to having a phone sitting on my desk, Outlook on my computer, and relatively timely responses to my ...

“To travel is to take a journey into yourself.” – Danny Kaye Vacation wouldn’t be the correct term to explain my summer in Bosnia, since I’m working for my internship four days a week, every week we are here. For me, being away from the United States for an extended ...

The above photo was taken from the bus on the way back to Sarajevo from Split, Croatia this past weekend. The window could have been cleaner, but the clouds were nice. I took the photo because the town was mobbed, and I was hoping my phone would geotag it so ...

For many reasons, the last thing I want to write about is Srebrenica. I’m still metabolizing what I’ve seen and heard. I don’t know how to write about the horrors of the genocide which occurred there, the senselessness of hatred, or the violence and unimaginable evil. Nor can I convey ...

Home: It makes me think of Sunday afternoon card games, the plants that have now created a small jungle at the house, and the Hello Kitty light switch in my room that has never been switched out after all these years. Most importantly, it reminds me of my family without ...